Hello all,
This was my second year making wine from fresh grapes. After we pressed last year and were left with all the skins, I felt bad throwing them out. I seemed like such a waste but I didn't know what to do with them. Someone advised me to make Grappa but I don't have a distiller and didn't want to buy one.
So fast forward to this year I decided to make a mead and add some grape skins to the fermenter and see what happens. I used:
10 Pounds of Tupelo honey
3 Oranges (zest skins only)
7 Pounds of pressed grape skins (Cabernet Sauvignon)
Some slurry from pressing day (to add yeast)
Topped off to 5 gallons in a plastic bucket
I mixed this up last night and about 12 hours later, she's bubbling away! I plan on adding nutrient as the fermentation progresses and then moving to a secondary once it is complete. From there I guess I just sample periodically and make a bottling decision down the road. I may add a vanilla bean to the secondary, we'll see.
I have no inspiration at all for this recipe. I just didn't want to throw all those skins out and didn't think my compost could handle all of them. I'll post back once there is some news.
This was my second year making wine from fresh grapes. After we pressed last year and were left with all the skins, I felt bad throwing them out. I seemed like such a waste but I didn't know what to do with them. Someone advised me to make Grappa but I don't have a distiller and didn't want to buy one.
So fast forward to this year I decided to make a mead and add some grape skins to the fermenter and see what happens. I used:
10 Pounds of Tupelo honey
3 Oranges (zest skins only)
7 Pounds of pressed grape skins (Cabernet Sauvignon)
Some slurry from pressing day (to add yeast)
Topped off to 5 gallons in a plastic bucket
I mixed this up last night and about 12 hours later, she's bubbling away! I plan on adding nutrient as the fermentation progresses and then moving to a secondary once it is complete. From there I guess I just sample periodically and make a bottling decision down the road. I may add a vanilla bean to the secondary, we'll see.
I have no inspiration at all for this recipe. I just didn't want to throw all those skins out and didn't think my compost could handle all of them. I'll post back once there is some news.
